Lot description
YUSAKU KAMEKURA (1915-1997) TOKYO 1964. 1962. 40 1/4x21 3/4 inches, 102 1/4x55 1/4 cm. Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., Tokyo. Condition A: minor creases at bottom. Paper. Well-versed in Bauhaus principles, Kamekura melded typography and Modernist graphics of Europe with Japanese culture; he can be credited with introducing the Western World to Japanese poster art through designs published in Graphis magazine. When his series for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics was published, it resonated throughout the graphic design community. He designed four posters for the games; the first, which became the logo of the games, is a strictly typographic exercise, in which the red sun of the Japanese flag is harmoniously balanced atop the gold Olympic rings. For the other posters, he used photography (for the first time, in Olympic posters) in a modern, dynamic way, depicting sprinters, a swimmer, and an athlete running with the torch at twilight. Kamekura also designed the posters when the Winter Olympics returned to Japan in 1972. Kamekura 16, Olympic Posters pl. 59, Plakat Kunst p. 161, MoMA 1482.2000.